In providing a container for commercial packaging of food products, among the considerations that must be addressed are the ability of the container to receive food product in filling operations; the degree of difficulty that will be encountered by the consumer in dispensing product from the container; the ability of the container to be handled and to withstand various loads, such as stacking loads, during filling, sealing, shipping, display and consumer use; and the ability of the container to be packed efficiently among like containers. Also, it is desirable that such a container have ample label display area and an aesthetically pleasing appearance.
A disadvantage with some larger containers is their inability to be easily handled and controlled, particularly during dispensing of product, when it may be desirable to hold the container in an inclined position with one hand to pour, shake, spoon or otherwise dispense a viscous food product such as mayonnaise, salad dressing, or other material of similar consistency.
In the past, much effort has been directed toward facilitating manual control and handling of large containers. Such attempts include providing grip enhancing surfaces and/or ribs. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,097 discloses a container with hand-grip indentations having a pair of vertical surfaces disposed at an obtuse angle with respect to one another and joined together at a common edge. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,656 discloses a container with a recess having a tapered part and a plurality of vertical ribs or anti-slip strips for enhanced gripping.
Each of the containers disclosed in the '097 and '656 patents requires reinforcing features to counterbalance any increase in potential for the container to collapse, resulting from the design of the particular gripping feature. The disclosed reinforcing features include vertical and/or horizonal ribs or recesses. The gripping and reinforcement features significantly reduce the area available for labeling of the containers, and decrease the internal volume of the container without significantly reducing its shelf space requirements and without decreasing shipping volume, i.e., the volume required for each container when boxed with other like containers.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a relatively large container suitable for commercial packaging of food product which has improved means to facilitate manual gripping of the container during dispensing of product therefrom.